Free Social Cleavages Essay Sample
Social cleavage is a term that is used to explain the group divisions in the community. These divisions are accepted, recognized and determined by various social factors. There are several of these cleavages that are usually a main interest to political scientist. They include: ethnicity, social classes, income and regional differences. There are countries that religion is a major social factor there this would make religion a cleavage of interest in that particular country.
Ethnicity is an area of interest because of how much impact it has made in both socially and politically. Ethnicity has influenced political party systems, voting behavior and even how people relate with each other in the society. Political analysts take interest in this division because it is a major determinant in both political and social issues (Leege, 2002).
Social classes are into two types: poor or rich. There could also be those who are average; not poor and not very rich. The society is in a trend which shows that the rich are becoming richer as the poor continue deteriorating. The gap is widening. The rich are associated with having more political and social influence and they hold high position in the society. The poor are left to follow the policies made by the rich since they do not have economic empowerment.
Religion has influenced people's social behavior and beliefs, in the society since different people belong to different religion. Religion has influenced people's decision in issues like divorce, abortion and matters about rights of homosexuality. Different religions have different beliefs. For example Christianity is against divorce but Islam permits it. All religions bear moral values that people are expected to practice so that they co-exist in the society (Leege, 2002).
Political quarrels
A political quarrel is a conflict or disagreement. The political quarrel to be analyzed was between France and Algeria. France was the colonizer of Algeria. The Algerians had to struggle for their freedom and hence a conflict between them and Algeria arose. Eventually the French had to give back independence to Algeria (Shakespeare, 2005).
During the colonial period French had dominion and jurisdiction of the whole of Algeria. After they had to give back freedom to Algeria, it meant then that they had to give up part of what they considered their geographical location. Their political power was reduced to only the country of France. The geography of France influences political, economic and cultural activities.
The colonization of Algeria by the French contributes to the history of the country by being part of history. When Algeria was negotiating for its freedom, they even mobilized their people to Islam which is the most common religion in the country. This meant that they had begun to start getting freedom and the human rights that they had been denied during the colonial period.
France has had a history of racism or discriminating people of the dark race. This originated from the history of the French colonizing Algerians. France had colonized Algeria from 1830 to 1878. Due to this long duration, it made the French to develop a culture of racism that they perpetuated it even when they went back to their country (Prevost, 1962).
The French culture is largely determined by the economic, social and geographical factors. After French people ceased the power they had over Algeria, they went back to France. This place has fertile soils that made the French to start practicing agriculture. Other cultural practices were adopted and practiced. This was a result of them going back to France after colonizing Algeria.